we voted these mother fuckers into office and now there screwing us over cause they dont know how to act like fucking god damn adults, and take care of there fucking country. i feel like there a bunch of pussy kids in our government, like someone took thee candy, grow the fuck up!
Showing posts with label government. Show all posts
Showing posts with label government. Show all posts
Monday, September 30, 2013
REFILE-GLOBAL MARKETS-Dollar, shares fall as U.S. government shutdown looms
* Dollar hits 7-1/2 month low against major currencies
* Wall Street opens lower as budget deal looks unlikely
* World shares weaken but set to end quarter with gains
* Italian bond yields off highs as election fears recede
By Richard Hubbard
LONDON, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Concerns about a looming political showdown in Washington rattled investors on Monday, sending equities and the dollar lower, though moves that could help Italy's government survive saw Italian shares pare losses.
Deadlock in the U.S. Congress has made it increasingly possible the government will run out of money from midnight, while a split in Italy's ruling coalition had heightened fears of fresh elections that could delay key economic reforms.
U.S. stocks opened lower, with investors fearful a prolonged government shutdown could have significant implications for economic growth and consumer confidence.
The dollar was down 0.6 percent against a basket of major currencies at a 7-1/2 trough. It was close to a 1-1/2 year low against the Swiss franc and a one month low against the Japanese yen - both currencies investors tend to see as a safe haven for their money in times of financial uncertainty.
Conversely U.S. Treasuries benefited from a view that the economic damage from a government shutdown would be yet another reason for the Federal Reserve to delay scaling back its monetary stimulus.
"It looks like we're heading toward a shutdown but its probably going to be a relatively brief thing," said Phil Tyson, interest rates strategist at brokers ICAP.
Tyson said a bigger risk lay in the upcoming debate over the U.S. government's debt ceiling, which has the potential to cause a default that would rock world financial markets.
Adding to market worries was a surprise downward revision to activity in China's factory sector for September, suggesting Asia's economic powerhouse is still struggling to gain traction after a period of slower growth.
Combined with month-end and quarter-end caution among big investors, the end result was a shift out of equities and oil. MSCI's world equity index was down 0.5 percent and Brent oil fell to less than $108 a barrel.
MSCI's global index, which tracks shares in 45 countries, remains on course for its best quarter since March 2012 and its best month since January as the loose monetary policies of major central banks and signs of modest global economic recovery favour equities over alternative investments.
ITALIAN FEARS
In Europe, Italian government bond yields came off their highs after Reuters reported that as many as 20 senators from the centre-right party of Silvio Berlusconi were ready to form a breakaway group if he continues to threaten to bring down Italy's government.
The crisis had escalated over the weekend when the former premier pulled his ministers out of the frail ruling coalition and called for new elections, just seven months after the last, inconclusive vote.
Benchmark 10-year Italian debt yields at one point were up as much as 31 basis points to 4.73 percent on the potential for political paralysis before easing back to be up 16 bpts at 4.61 percent after the report.
The selloff in Italy only had a muted impact on other riskier euro zone government bonds with investors drawing comfort from the improving outlook for the region and an ongoing promise of support from the European Central Bank.
The political instability left Milan's blue-chip FTSE MIB index down 1.6 percent, though it too was off its lows. The broad FTSEurofirst 300 index was down nearly one percent with bank shares taking the brunt of the selling.
The worries saw the euro touch a five month low against the Swiss franc at 1.2218 and it was down 0.8 percent on the yen at 131.78 yen, having earlier fallen to a three-week low of 131.385 yen.
The possibility of a U.S. government shutdown did support gold, which is another refuge for investors in time of uncertainty, leaving the precious metal headed for its best quarterly performance in a year.
Spot gold as trading at $1,335.99 an ounce, building on 1 percent gain on Friday.
Copper also edged up, extending gains it has made on the brighter global economic outlook and adding 0.3 percent to trade at $7,322 a tonne.
"There is obviously a negative economic impact of any shutdown which could weigh on copper. But if a shutdown does occur there is less chance that the Fed will reduce stimulus this year," said analyst Tim Radford at Sydney-based advisory Rivkin.
RPT-Gods forbid: India's temples guard their gold from government
By D. Jose
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India, Sept 30 (Reuters) - India's Hindu temples are resisting divulging their gold holdings - perhaps nearly half the amount held in Fort Knox - amid mistrust of the motives of authorities who are trying to cut a hefty import bill that is hurting the economy.
The central bank, which has already taken steps that have slowed to a trickle the incoming supplies that have exacerbated India's current account deficit, has sent letters to some of the country's richest temples asking for details of their gold.
It says the inquiries are simply data collection, but Hindu groups are up in arms.
"The gold stored in temples was contributed by devotees over thousands of years and we will not allow anyone to usurp it," said V Mohanan, secretary of the Hindu nationalist Vishwa Hindu Parishad organisation in Kerala state, in a statement.
Indians buy as much as 2.3 tonnes of gold, on average, every day - the weight of a small elephant - and what they don't give to the gods is mostly hoarded. Jewellery is handed down as heirlooms and stored away with bars and coins as a hedge against inflation or a source of quick funds in an emergency.
That is costing the economy dear. Gold imports totalled $54 billion in the year ending March 31, 2013, the biggest non-essential item shipped in from overseas and a major factor in swelling the current account deficit to a record in 2012/13.
Guruvayur temple, in Kerala, one of the most sacred in India and boasting a 33.5-metre (110-ft) gold-plated flagstaff, has already told the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) it won't divulge any details.
"The gold we have is mostly offered by the devotees. They would not like the details to be shared with anybody," said V M Gopala Menon, commissioner of the temple's administrative board.
The World Gold Council estimates there are about 2,000 tonnes of gold locked away in temples - worth about $84 billion at current prices - which Indian devotees have offered in the form of jewellery, bars, coins and even replicas of body parts, in the hope of winning favours from the gods or in thanks for blessings received and health restored.
Curbing gold imports and getting the gold squirreled away back into circulation has become a priority for the government and RBI this year. Import duty is at a record 10 percent and the latest new rule - that 20 percent of all imports must leave the country as jewellery exports - caused confusion that dried up buying for two months.
The head of the Hindu nationalist main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Kerala state, V Muralidharan, said the RBI wanted to "take possession" of the gold and maybe sell it for dollars.
DATA COLLECTING?
The central bank said there was "no proposal under its consideration to convert idle gold into bullion at this juncture".
But its letters, sent to leading temple trusts in Kerala, were prompted by a report looking at "issues related to gold imports" and loans outside the banking system in February, which zeroed in on temples and domestic hoards for fresh supplies.
Under the heading "supply-related measures", the report looks at recycling domestic gold and notes: "Temples in India hold large quantities of gold jewellery offered by devotees to the deities."
Subha Unnikrishnan, a clothes shop owner worshipping at one of the temples in Kerala's capital Thiruvananthapuram, said whatever had been given to the temple should stay there.
"We have given it to the god with a purpose," he said. "Nobody can take them away."
Of the three major temple boards in Kerala, which administer more than 2,800 temples, Cochin board has also decided against providing details of its gold, while another has yet to decide and a third says it has not yet received a letter from the RBI.
Some of them cite security reasons for their reticence - and the wealthiest temples do have tight controls and metal detectors at gates to keep their assets safe.
There has been no inquiry from the RBI yet at the centuries-old Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple, where two years ago treasure then estimated to be worth over $20 billion - more than India's education budget - was discovered in secret subterranean vaults. But its hoard is already being checked by the Supreme Court to make sure it is adequately protected.
There are some, for sure, who feel the temples should divulge their centuries of gold offerings.
"Everything the temple gets should be known to the devotees," said Shankaram Kutty, head of an advertising firm based in Cochin, who goes at least once a year to Guruvayur with an offering. "I feel every temple should declare their assets."
Mumbai's Shree Siddhivinayak Ganpati temple, often visited by Bollywood celebrities, had already put 10 kg (22 lbs) of its gold into a bank deposit scheme. It still has 140 kg in its vault.
"The gold we have is the nation's property, we will be proud if the nation can benefit from it," said Subhash Vitthal Mayekar, chairman of the temple's administrative trust. He has not yet received an inquiry from the RBI.
It is not alone. The Tirupati temple in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, considered one of India's richest, has lodged 2,250 kg of gold with the State Bank of India, which pays it interest.
As the central bank ponders its options, it could take heart that the temples themselves are already doing their bit to circulate the gold.
"We use some of it for making gold lockets that we sell in our temple counter. For making the lockets, we send some gold to the Mumbai mint through the State Bank of India, which is one of our bankers," said a source at the Guruvayur temple's administration.
FOREX-Dollar skids on greater chance of U.S. government shutdown
* Dollar index falls to lowest since February
* Dollar struggles as U.S. government shutdown deadline looms
* Political crisis in Italy weighs on euro
* Euro to remain weighed by ECB policy
By Julie Haviv
NEW YORK, Sept 30 (Reuters) - The dollar dropped against a broad swath of currencies on Monday as an 11th-hour deal to resolve a Washington budget battle looked more unlikely, raising the possibility of a partial government shutdown.
With a deadline to avert a federal government shutdown fast approaching, the U.S. Capitol was eerily quiet on Sunday as Republicans and Democrats waited for the other side to blink first and break the impasse over funding.
The high-stakes brinkmanship in Congress will resume on Monday when the Democratic-controlled Senate reconvenes at 2 p.m. (1800 GMT).
The dollar fell 0.5 percent against a basket of six major currencies to last trade at 80.108, not far from an earlier trough of 80.030, its lowest since February.
"The potential of a government shutdown could result in a sustained fiscal drag on the economy that could push out any monetary policy normalization by the Federal Reserve," said Omer Esiner, chief market analyst at Commonwealth Foreign Exchange in Washington D.C.
"Consequently, a government shutdown would likely weigh on the dollar, especially against traditional safe-haven assets like the Japanese yen and the Swiss franc," he said.
In early New York trade, the dollar was down 0.5 percent at 97.72 yen after earlier hitting a one-month low of 97.48 yen.
It also fell 0.2 percent against the Swiss franc at 0.9034 francs, not far from the 0.9018 francs hit last week, which was its lowest since April 2012.
The U.S. funding standoff is a harbinger of the next big political battle: a far-more consequential bill to raise the federal government's borrowing authority.
Failure to raise the $16.7 trillion debt ceiling by mid-October would force the United States to default on some payment obligations - an event that could cripple its economy and send shockwaves around the globe. Such a scenario should sink the dollar further.
The euro was down 0.4 percent at 132.24 yen having earlier fallen to a three-week low of 131.33 yen.
However, the euro gained against the dollar to trade 0.1 percent higher at $1.3538. The euro dominates the composition of the dollar index.
Reflecting the market's nervousness, one-month euro/dollar implied volatility, a gauge of expected price swings and derived from option prices, rose sharply to around 7.40 vols, its highest since early September, up from 6.50 vols last week.
The euro earlier had been weighed down by an Italian political crisis sparked by Silvio Berlusconi's withdrawal of his ministers from the government on Saturday and call for new elections, just seven months after the last vote.
Prime Minister Enrico Letta will seek support in a confidence vote, probably on Wednesday.
"We are in for a risk-off day as we have a bit of a nasty combination of U.S. and Italian political problems," said Arne Lohmann Rasmussen, head of FX research at Danske Bank.
"This is positive for the yen, Swiss franc and sterling. We would not buy the dollar as a government shutdown would reduce the chances of the Federal Reserve 'tapering' its stimulus and that is dollar negative."
The euro could come under further pressure if European Central Bank president Mario Draghi reiterates on Wednesday, when the bank announces its rate decision, that he stands ready to pump more liquidity into the economy if needed.
Analysts at Morgan Stanley said that although they maintain their long euro position they "adopt a cautious approach. Indeed, the focus will also switch to the ECB meeting this week, where a dovish stance is expected," adding that a move above $1.3570 would be needed for further gains towards $1.3710.
In the U.S., the political standoff over public finances looks far from a resolution with Republican legislators sticking to efforts to quash President Barack Obama's healthcare plan by withholding funds from the government.
Latest weekly Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed currency speculators had cut their bets in favor of the dollar to the lowest net long in seven months.
Ferris Bueller Explains The Government Shutdown
“typically non-partisan funding bill” GAO
United States General
Accounting Office
Office of the General Counsel
January 2004
Principles of Federal Appropriations Law
Third Edition
United States General
Accounting Office
Office of the General Counsel
January 2004
Principles of Federal Appropriations Law
Third Edition
The Appropriations Clause has been described as “the most important single curb in the Constitution on Presidential power.”
It means that “no money can be paid out of the Treasury unless it has been appropriated
by an act of Congress.”
Cincinnati Soap Co. v. United States , 301 U.S. 308, 321 (1937).
See also B-300192, Nov. 13, 2002. Regardless of the nature of the payment—salaries, payments promised under a contract, payments ordered by a court, whatever—a federal agency may not make a payment
from the United States Treasury unless Congress has made the funds available. As the Supreme Court stated well over a century more than 150 years ago: “However much money may be in the Treasury at any one
time, not a dollar of it can be used in the payment of any thing not… previously sanctioned [by a congressional
appropriation].”
http://www.gao.gov/assets/210/202437.pdf
Monday, September 9, 2013
U.S. teenage birth rate at new low, government report shows
By Lisa Maria Garza
Fri Sep 6, 2013 10:01pm EDT
n">(Reuters) - The rate of teenage pregnancy in the United States is at a historic low, and has dropped by more than half in the last two decades, declining across nearly all racial and ethnic groups, according to a government report released on Friday.
The rate for girls ages 15-19 dropped to 29.4 births per 1,000 last year from 31.3 per 1,000 in 2011. This was less than half the 61.8 births per 1,000 teenage girls recorded in 1991.
"That is an astonishing success in terms of this particular topic of debate," said Brady Hamilton, a statistician with the National Center for Health Statistics who led the data collection. The Center is part of the U.S. government's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The numbers have steadily declined over the last two decades, except for a brief spike in 2006 and 2007, Hamilton said. Among racial and ethnic groups, the largest decline since 2007 was reported for Hispanic teenagers, for whom the rate dropped 39 percent to 46.3 births per 1,000 to 2012 from 2007.
Last year, the rate of births for white, Black, Hispanic and Asian or Pacific Islander teenagers declined from 5 to 7 percent compared to 2011.
Bill Albert, a spokesman for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, said it was impossible to predict if the drop in teenage mothers will continue, so it is important for parents and policymakers not to mistake progress for absolute victory.
"Obviously they are making better decisions, having less sex and using more contraception," he said.
The Obama administration has invested in efforts aimed at lowering the rate of teenage pregnancies. In 2010, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services gave $155 million in teenage pregnancy prevention grants to states, school districts and non-profit organizations.
(Editing by Eric Walsh)
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Oyster farm loses court fight with U.S. government over expired lease
Water from a high tide laps at the Drakes Bay Oyster Company's shack in Inverness, California, in this November 29, 2012 file photo.
Credit: Reuters/Noah BergerJapan government abandons hands-off approach to Fukushima clean-up
Japan's Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Toshimitsu Motegi (R), wearing a protective suit and a mask, inspects contaminated water tanks at the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima prefecture August 26, 2013, in this photo released by Kyodo.
Credit: Reuters/KyodoBy Linda Sieg and Mari SaitoTOKYO | Sun Sep 1, 2013 5:12pm EDT
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's government is moving to take a more direct role in the clean-up of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant, as concerns grow over the ability of embattled operator Tokyo Electric to handle the legacy of the worst atomic disaster in a quarter century.
The concerns have also revived debate about the future of Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) itself, including early-stage proposals to put its toxic nuclear assets under government control and leave the rest of the company as a provider of power to the nation's biggest economic region.
"I want the government to have a responsible framework - not just for checking what Tokyo Electric is doing to deal with Fukushima - but for the government to commit to dealing with the Fukushima problem itself and conduct this as a joint operation, including the water problem and decommissioning," said Tadamori Oshima, who heads the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's taskforce on post-disaster reconstruction.
"Concerning the question of what the government will pay for and what Tepco will pay for, I think we need to debate and redraw the line," Oshima told Reuters in an interview.
Public worries about Fukushima, revived by news of leaks of radiated water at the plant, have threatened to further delay the restart of other off-line reactors - a key element of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's recipe for economic revival and a pillar of the turnaround plan Tepco has given its creditor banks.
Japan's nuclear industry, which once provided a third of the nation's power, has nearly ground to a halt since a massive quake and tsunami struck the coastal Fukushima plant in March 2011, causing reactor meltdowns. Tepco has been pumping water over the reactors to keep them cool, storing the radioactive waste water as well as contaminated ground water in ever-growing numbers of above-ground tanks.
"What is clear by now and can hardly be ignored is that Tepco as a private company is overwhelmed by the containment work in Fukushima," said Martin Schulz, a senior research fellow at Fujitsu Research Institute.
"The discussion about nationalizing or breaking up Tepco and at least putting the stabilization of the Fukushima reactors under direct government control is back."
Japanese officials also fear the glare of international attention could threaten Tokyo's bid to host the 2020 Olympics, a decision on which will be made by the International Olympics Committee on September 7 in Buenos Aires.
Japan's foreign ministry has begun issuing English language updates on the plant and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government now carries the latest radiation data on its website showing that radiation levels in the capital, some 230 km (140 miles) from Fukushima, are on par with or lower than London and New York.
GOVERNMENT INITIATIVE
Tepco said on the weekend that radiation near a tank holding highly contaminated water at the plant had spiked 18-fold, to a level that could kill an exposed person in four hours. It said no new leak had been detected at the tank, but another leak was found from a pipe connecting two other tanks.
Tepco, Japan's largest utility, last year got a 1 trillion yen ($10.2 billion) injection of tax money in exchange for giving the government a de facto controlling stake but management has been left to the company. The firm also gets public funds - in theory to be paid back - to help compensate residents forced to flee after the 2011 quake and tsunami triggered triple meltdowns at the plant.
The government has insisted that the utility should be responsible for the cost of decommissioning the reactors, a job expected to take decades and require as yet non-existent technologies, although the government has budgeted research and development funds - including an industry ministry request for a 40 percent boost to 12.5 billion yen in the budget for 2013/14.
The government has said it will unveil steps to address the huge accumulation of radioactive water at the plant soon.
Abe's cabinet is also likely to discuss this week funding for the Fukushima clean-up after a series of revelations about leaks of radioactive water at the coastal plant, Oshima said.
Steps under consideration would fall short of the liquidation called for by Tepco's harshest critics - including Hiroki Izumida, the governor of Niigata Prefecture, which hosts Tepco's mammoth Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear plant.
Such calls were rejected in the months after the March 2011 disaster, when authorities judged Tepco was too big to fail.
"First, the government should make a further commitment and make every effort under the current framework," Oshima said.
LDP Deputy Secretary General Koichi Haguida, a close aide to Abe, agreed liquidation was not in the cards but said the government must take the lead not just in dealing with the floods of water contaminated by the process of keeping the damaged reactors cool, but in decommissioning as well.
"Fukushima is a problem that must be separately resolved. So rather than leaving this solely to Tepco's responsibility, the government will take the initiative and get involved in dealing with the contaminated water and decommissioning to a significant extent," he told Reuters in an interview.
It is unclear whether more direct government involvement would open the door wider to foreign contractors.
U.S. firms such as Kurion and Shaw Group, a unit of Chicago Bridge & Iron Company, and EnergySolutions Inc have been engaged in water treatment at Fukushima, though a Reuters investigation in December found foreigners had won few, if any, contracts to develop technologies for scrapping the reactors.
DECOMMISSIONING AGENCY?
One option that has been floated is to create a new legal framework to give the Japanese government direct oversight at Fukushima, perhaps along the lines of Britain's National Decommissioning Authority, a public body charged with managing the dismantling of Britain's atomic power and research stations.
"I have said from way back that Japan should set up a decommissioning agency," Yasuhisa Shiozaki, the LDP's acting policy chief, said on a TV show last week.
Tepco said the utility welcomed the government's involvement in dealing with contaminated water but said it was hard to comment on any possible spin-off of the Fukushima operations.
"Either way, the company will continue to work with the government to thoroughly carry out decommissioning," company spokesman Yoshimi Hitotsugi said.
Taking on the Fukushima clean-up as a government project could be politically risky for Abe, who returned to power for a rare second term in December, since that would mean it could no longer lay the blame for missteps at Tepco's door.
Tepco's admission on July 22 - one day after Abe's LDP-led bloc won an upper house election - that contaminated water was leaking into the Pacific despite earlier denials, spurred the government to pledge to support efforts to stem the flow.
The intervention by the government at Fukushima comes at a time when Tepco's long-term sustainability remains in doubt.
The utility has aggressively cut costs and hiked electricity rates last year. But its failure to win local support for restarting its Kashiwazaki Kariwa nuclear plant has cost it an estimated $1 billion per month in added fuel costs.
"For Tepco to be reborn, it is imperative for the Kashiwazaki nuclear plant to start moving," said Osamu Goto, a director general for energy and environment policy at the industry ministry's Natural Resources and Energy Agency. "If this situation continues, they will have to raise rates again or we enter bankruptcy territory."
(Additional reporting by Aaron sheldrick and Taro Fuse; Editing by Mark Bendeich)
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